Examples of “Master-Disciple” Relationship in various Mahayana schools of Buddhism

Nichiren Shu

A “Disciple” in Nichiren Shu school of Buddhism is a novice priest (who leaves home and the secular world), while “Master” is a priest of a more advanced status.  In this view, Master Disciple is understood to be within the line of priesthood-based order:

“…The rules for the master/disciple relationship are strict. A shami’s practice is to observe, listen, study, serve and obey his/her master….. Once the master has accepted the student, they are given Tokudo. This is the ritual of leaving home and the secular world”.

Nichiren Shoshu

Similar to Nichiren Shu school of Buddhism, Nichiren Shoshu focuses on “Master” as the priest at a local temple and also on the “True Master” as the High Priest at the Head Temple.

“We must recognise the High Priest at the Head Temple as the True Master and respect the chief priest of the local Temple as the direct master, the High Priest’s proxy”.     Nichiren Shoshu source   

Nichiren ShoShu High Priest’s demand for “absolute obedience”

The Priesthood instruction to lay believers of “Absolute Obedience” to the authority of the High Priest - contradicts Nichiren’s teachings (based on the equal potential of priest and lay believer to attain enlightenment, without any distinction between the two).

On equality of all believers before the Law, the Gosho states: 

“Now in the Latter  Day of the Law, if any person embraces Myoho Renge Kyo, and practices it in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings – whether he be…priest or lay believer, or of high or low position – he cannot fail to attain Buddhahood”. WND1 p 482

In 1991, SGI VicePresident Akiya refuted the Priesthood’s doctrine of “absolute obedience” between priest and lay-believer, which is based on a belief in superiority of priests to justify the priesthood tendency to control the spiritual life of ordinary people: 

“The concept of absolute faith in and strict obedience to the High Priest is nothing but a myth that was devised in later times for the sake of forcing believers into submission” Soka Shimpon, 2 Oct.1991

Tibetan Buddhism

The “Master” in Tibetan Buddhism is always referred to as “His Holiness”  implying that the Master is a title for a “distinguished spirituality” or “holiness” as compared with ordinary believers. This distinction is accepted in all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism:

Kagyu, Nyingma, Sakya and the Dalai Lama’s Gelug School:

Zen Buddhism

In Zen practice, the spiritual advancement of a Disciple depends on the opinion of the Master:

“The meditator needs to be jolted awake, and the only one who can do this is his Zen master. The master - disciple relationship often involves private interviews                            

in which the Zen trait of unconventionality sometimes comes to the fore; the master will allow no refuge in the Buddha or the sutras but demands from his disciple a direct answer to his assigned koan”.

Seen from a modern perspective, Traditional Buddhism uses various forms of influential  methods to cement the relationship of master-disciple. This makes of a master in Traditional Buddhism a crucial authority in judging the level of spiritual attainment of the disciple, a concept non-existant in Soka Buddhism: there is no spiritual hierarchy in SGI - all are Bodhisattvas of the Lotus Sutra striving to reveal their Buddhanature, as Nichiren taught.